The Giants are coming off the wrong end of a four-game split, and Brandon Crawford is once again nursing knee inflammation.
It’s not a major surprise given his history of knee injuries at age 36, but with Thairo Estrada still a while away from returning to the lineup, it begs the question whether the Giants need to make a move in the middle infield.
Shawn Estes joined Murph and Mac on Thursday and explained why he wouldn’t make a trade.
While Brett Wisely and Casey Schmitt are batting a combined .406 (or .203), Estes thinks their defensive prowess outweighs their struggles at the plate
“With this club, I don’t worry myself a lot with the offense, especially those guys hitting eight, nine, because you’re really going to get quality defense up the middle from those two guys,” Estes said. “They’re really good defenders and we’ve talked a lot about it and I don’t think we talked about about Wisely but he can flat out pick it…
“I think that’ll overshadow a lot of maybe the offensive insufficiencies with those two guys. But you also don’t know. Maybe they catch fire. I think a lot of people think Wisely is going to be a good big hitter. And a lot of people have seen what Schmidt can do in spurts, kind of waiting for him to get back to that and make some adjustments.”
Estes said he’s not too concerned about Crawford. His knee injuries have become expected at this point, and when it flares up, he and the Giants are honest with each other and work to get him rest to keep him fresh for the rest of the season.
He expects he’ll return refreshed.
But if he doesn’t, or if Estrada’s situation lingers, Estes thinks the Giants could look internally, to 21-year-old Marco Luciano, who was promoted to Triple-A Sacramento.
“That’s by design,” Estes said. “He’s been hitting the ball pretty well in Double-A but they want to see what he does in Triple-A in case they need him at the big league level. They wanted to, in essence, put him on a little bit of a faster track because of Thairo and Crawford being out.”
Regardless of where Luciano is, Estes said, essentially, the Giants vibes are too good to mess them up with a trade.
If he were GM, he’d hold firm with the middle infield.
“I’m not a huge risk taker one and I’m also not a proponent of change,
“‘I have a tough time with change. I kind of like what I see. I like the vibe,” Estes said. “I like the chemistry of the team. And I want to keep that intact. I just don’t think you go out and you mess that up at all right now when you don’t have to.’I have a tough time with change. I kind of like what I see. I like the vibe. I like the chemistry of the team. And I want to keep that intact. I just don’t think you go out and you mess that up at all right now when you don’t have to.”
After their split in Cincinnati, the Giants will head to Washington for a three-game series with the Nationals before a rare, one-game in Detroit with the Tigers before returning home.
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